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Practice Squad Maneuvers

The practice squad for an NFL team is always a fluid group, with players occasionally coming and going as a team tries to keep its numbers at various positions where they want them. That remains true even when the season is near its end, as evidenced by the three practice squad moves the Buccaneers made on Tuesday.

And there will likely be one more change to that eight-man group within the next few days, because Tuesday’s moves left the Bucs with one open practice squad spot. LB Joe Holland was re-signed, but TE Drake Dunsmore has been placed on practice squad injured reserve and G Hayworth Hicks has terminated his contract with the team.

Holland is a good example of that roster fluidity, as this is the third time he has signed with the Buccaneers since November 14. The Purdue linebacker has had a one-week stint and a two-week stint with the team and now is returning with two weeks left in the campaign.

Dunsmore, on the other hand, was nearly one of those players who makes it through the entire season on the Buccaneers’ practice squad. The former Northwestern tight end, the Bucs’ second draft pick in the seventh round of the 2012 draft, was part of the original iteration of that crew formed just after the final cuts in early September, and he has been with the team ever since. The same is true of QB Adam Webber, who remains on the practice squad.

Hicks came to the Bucs just last week as a waiver claim from Kansas City, but was released and signed to the practice squad later in the week. Players generally terminate their own practice squad contracts when they are on the verge of signing with another team’s active roster.